Ye couples, who meet under Love’s smiling star,
Too gentle to skirmish, too soft e’er to jar;
Though cover’d with roses from Joy’s richest tree,
Near the couch of Delight lurks the dæmon _Ennui_.
Let the Muses gay lyre, like Ithuriel’s bright spear,
Keep this fiend, ye sweet brides, from approaching your ear;
Since you know the squat toad’s infernal _esprit_,
Never listen, like Eve, to the devil _Ennui_.
Let no gloom of your hall, no shade of your bower,
Make you think you behold this malevolent power:
Like a child in the dark, what you fear you will see;
Take courage, away flies the phantom _Ennui_.
O trust me, the powers both of person and mind,
To defeat this sly foe full sufficient you’ll find;
Should your eyes fail to kill him, with keen repartee,
You can sink the flat boat of th’invader _Ennui_.
If a cool _non-chalance_ o’er your _sposa_ should spread,
(For vapours will rise e’en on Jupiter’s head,)
O ever believe it, from jealousy free,
A thin passing cloud, not the fog of _Ennui_.
Of tender complainings tho’ Love be the theme,
O beware, my sweet friends, ’tis a dangerous scheme;
And tho’ often ’tis tried, mark the _pauvre mari_
Thus by kindness inclos’d in the coop of _Ennui_.
Let Confidence, rising such meanness above,
Drown the discord of doubt in the music of Love;
Your _duette_ shall thus charm in the natural key,
No sharps from vexation, no flats from _Ennui_.
But to you, happy husbands, in matters more nice,
The Muse, though a maiden, now offers advice;
O drink not too keenly your bumper of glee,
E’en extasy’s cup has some dregs of _Ennui_.
Tho’ Love for your lips fill with nectar his bowl,
Tho’ his warm bath of blessings inspirit your soul;
O swim not too far on Rapture’s high sea,
Lest you sink unawares in the gulph of _Ennui_.
Impatient of law, Passion oft will reply--
Against limitations I’ll plead till I die!
But chief-justice Nature rejects the vain plea,
And such culprits are doom’d to the gaol of _Ennui_.
When husband and wife are of honey too fond,
They’re like poison’d carp at the top of a pond;
Together they gape o’er a cold dish of tea,
Two muddy-sick fish in the net of _Ennui_.
Of indolence most, ye mild couples, beware,
For the myrtles of Love often hide her soft snare;
The fond doves in their net, from his pounce cannot flee,
But the lark in the morn ’scapes the dæmon _Ennui_.
Let cheerful good-humour, that sunshine of life,
Which smiles in the maiden, illumine the wife;
And mutual attention, in equal degree,
Keep Hymen’s bright chain from the rust of _Ennui_.
To the graces together, O fail not to bend,
And both to the voice of the Muses attend;
So Minerva, for you shall with Cupid agree,
And preserve your chaste flame from the smoke of _Ennui_.
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